Fulop won't run for governor, endorses Murphy

Declaring a “bloody primary” was not in anyone’s interest, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said Wednesday he would not run for governor next year and urged fellow Democrats to unite behind Phil Murphy, a financier and former ambassador to Germany making his first run for office.

Fulop had been preparing to run for more than a year, and his withdrawal sets up a more intense battle between Murphy, a millionaire from Middletown who has already declared his candidacy, and state Senate President Stephen Sweeney of Gloucester County, an ironworkers union leader with the backing of South Jersey political leader George Norcross.

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Murphy, who was a top fund-raiser for President Obama, has no political base of his own but he would get a significant boost if he can pick up Fulop supporters such as Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and leaders in Hudson and Bergen counties.

“It’s a game changer,” said Rider University political scientist Ben Dworkin. “It becomes a class battle between an iron worker and a former Goldman Sachs executive, and a political-style battle: The tough-talking powerful labor leader versus the financial executive who served as a diplomat.”

Fulop’s decision comes as his interactions with Governor Christie’s administration are being discussed at the high-profile trial in Newark of former Christie aides and appointees accused of closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in 2013 as a form of political retaliation.

With Murphy at his side, Fulop told reporters outside city hall in Jersey City that he had seen speculation on the Internet that his reasons for not running included the Bridgegate case as well as his health, other legal issues, or his wife.

“I’ve read on the Internet all sorts of theories, none of which are true,” he said.

Rather, he said he made the decision after working for years to build relationships around the state.

“When I look at the landscape today, understanding how the party’s fractured and my core beliefs on that, I don’t see any winners ultimately in a very, very bloody primary,” he said.

Fulop also had his stumbles in trying to build statewide support. An early supporter of expanding casinos into North Jersey, he helped promote a plan by former Reebok mogul Paul Fireman to build a $4 billion casino resort on the Jersey City waterfront.

But Fulop expressed reservations about the impact North Jersey gambling would have on Atlantic City after touring the city with local officials in April. The move angered leaders of North Jersey building-trades unions and inflamed tensions with Norcross, who supported the expansion.

Fulop’s early momentum in the pre-primary jockeying appeared to be waning. Fulop was seen as the early favorite to win the crucial endorsement of the Bergen County Democratic Committee, but in recent weeks, Murphy had been making inroads, capturing the endorsement of veteran Englewood Assemblyman Gordon Johnson; Richard LaBarbiera, mayor of Paramus; and Teaneck Democratic chairwoman Laura Zucker.

Fulop also appeared to have had an early head start in Essex County by locking up the support of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. But since then, Sweeney appears to have won the support of Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo and his longtime allies in Newark’s north ward.

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Murphy had his own roster of local luminaries, including state Sen. Richard Codey, former Assembly Speaker Shelia Oliver and former Newark Mayor Sharpe James, who remains a popular figure in Newark despite spending 18 months in federal prison on corruption charges.

“It’s obviously a good day for Mr. Murphy, but it’s a long way to the primary, and he will work almost every day until the primary,” Codey said.

‘Common cause’

A 39-year-old former Goldman Sachs employee who quit his job and joined the Marines after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Fulop said he would seek re-election as mayor next year instead.

“I think today we have the opportunity to unite different parts of northern New Jersey and southern New Jersey for a common cause of changing the dialogue in the entire state of New Jersey,” Fulop said. “I believe in my heart that Phil Murphy is that guy.”

Murphy, 59, said he would focus on addressing issues ignored by Republican Christie, who is barred by the state constitution from seeking another consecutive term.

“That begins by making New Jersey the economic engine that it once was and by creating a fair and just economy that works not just for some but for everyone,” he said.

With Christie’s popularity at an all-time low, Democrats believe they have a good chance of retaking the governor’s office regardless of who the GOP nominates. As a result, the decision about the party’s nominee — which was virtually uncontested in 2013, when Christie ran for a second term — has been the subject of intense behind-the-scenes wrangling.

In a sign of what is at stake, the normally press-shy Norcross appeared at a party Fulop gave at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and harshly criticized the mayor. Norcross compared Fulop to former Gov. Jim McGreevey, who resigned in disgrace in 2004 and later worked in Fulop’s administration.

Sweeney, at a news conference in Trenton, said Fulop’s decision would have no impact on his plans and telegraphed the way the campaign might be run.

“It is no surprise to see two former Goldman Sachs workers embrace, not at all,” Sweeney said.

Other Democrats are also considering a run, including state Sen. Raymond Lesniak of Union County and Assemblyman John Wisniewski of Middlesex County.

“Doesn't change my plans one iota,” Lesniak said in an email to supporters Wednesday night.

Bridgegate connection

Fulop’s name has surfaced repeatedly at the George Washington Bridge lane closing trial because he appeared to corroborate a pattern of the Governor’s Office punishing Democratic mayors who did not endorse Christie’s 2013 re-election.

Former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty to directing the September 2013 bridge lane closure as political retaliation against Fort Lee’s mayor, has testified there were early and persistent efforts to win Fulop’s endorsement.

Wildstein said Christie officials targeted Fulop in fall 2012 when he was a city councilman and working as a representative for Foreign Auto Process Systems, a company that prepared foreign cars for domestic sale was a Port Authority tenant with a rent dispute.

Wildstein said he and his boss, Bill Baroni — a Christie appointee at the authority now on trial — were ordered to negotiate a deal with Fulop in hope that Fulop would return the favor by endorsing Christie.

Several weeks after the deal was struck, Fulop “told me that he was looking forward to endorsing Gov. Christie,” Wildstein testified.

But after winning the mayor’s seat in 2013, Fulop refused to endorse Christie. From that point forward, Wildstein said, the administration ordered “radio silence” for Fulop, with meetings with the administration canceled and calls about Port Authority issues ignored.

At one point, Fulop also reached out to David Samson, the former Port Authority chairman appointed by Christie. But when Samson mentioned Fulop’s request for a meeting to Christie, Christie told Samson not to do it.

“Gov. Christie said, no, no meetings with Mayor Fulop,” Wildstein testified Monday. “He’s not getting any responses from the administration.”

Fulop told the press Wednesday he would release all emails shared with prosecutors after the trial was over, but he would not do it now to avoid affecting the defendants’ right to a fair trial.

Staff Writer Kim Lueddeke contributed to this story. Herb Jackson: jackson@northjersey.com; Charles Stile: stile@northjersey.com